


Take It To The Mattresses

by lore



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Canon, M/M, Magic, Post - Deathly Hallows, Potions, Snupin Santa Fest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-13
Updated: 2013-01-13
Packaged: 2017-11-25 08:25:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/636971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lore/pseuds/lore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Remus is asked to work with Severus to help inspire creative products for a new Weasley Twins venture.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take It To The Mattresses

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Omni_sama](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Omni_sama).



> Oddly, not CrackFic. Set in the year after DH where everyone but Albus lived and Tonks and Teddy never happened. Written for Omni_sama as part of the Snupin Santa Multimedia Exchange 2011.

"He's a bloody nightmare, Remus! You _have_ to help us!"

"I don't need to work, boys."

"Fred, tell him about the first one."

"Oh, God. I can't-" Fred Weasley swallowed thickly. "It's too tragic," he said, holding up his hand as if to ward off the memory.

"What?" Remus had to give in and ask. A half-hour of pleading twins finally stirred his curiosity.

"The first one he finished," George said, leaning forward and lowering his voice, his tone scandalized, "repels doxies."

"Doxies!" Fred punctuated, his normally deep voice a shriek that brought Molly to mind.

"They _are_ a tricky pest-"

"They're dead boring!" George finally lost what little extra restraint he'd necessarily developed after the twins had begun building Weasleys' Wizard Wares out of the success of their joke shops. "On top of it, Wallace's World already sell doxie-repelling mattresses. Oh, the ones _he_ made for us are better, but we're not looking to sell to hags and stay-at-home banshees! We want to be different!"

"Fun!" Fred chimed in, pressing fingers into his temples.

"Exciting!"

"We need imagination. That's why we came to you."

Remus sat back in his comfortable armchair next to the matching sofa of his well-appointed, if small, parlour, steepling his fingers in thought while the boys picked nervously at tea and biscuits.

He didn't _need_ to work.

The Ministry provided a Wolfsbane that did little for Remus but prevent the loss of his mind during the full moon, a program free to all werewolves after Hermione and Remus had gone to work on Kingsley. Order members who survived the war were given robust stipends, and if Remus suspected that Harry was padding their pay with his own continuously growing fortune, he quietly took satisfaction in the entire group suffering Harry's generosity. Remus was paying down a flat with two small bedrooms and an open floor plan, and he had enough coins left over each month to both modestly indulge _and_ save for a rainy day.

"Look," Fred said after several minutes, borrowing their collective patience back from his brother. "He's brilliant at what he does, but he needs to think outside his head. That's why we came to you."

George nodded. "And the business is at a crucial point right now. We need some hits. Items that're going to set us apart from Wallace and generate revenue for us to reinvest and continue steady growth."

Remus now had no doubt about which twin managed the finances.

"Truth is, we can't afford to keep him on much longer unless he produces something amazing," Fred admitted on a sigh.

"And you know he needs the job."

The boys had arrived at the crux of the matter. Severus Snape's Order stipend went straight to war widows and orphans on his own demand. Galleons would never make right the horrors Severus had been involved in while he spied on Voldemort, nor would the amount ever be enough to redeem him in the eyes of a public that knew him best as a Death Eater and murderer, but Severus refused to spend the stipend in any other way. The entire Order knew that the Ministry had left Severus few resources after the war, but he stubbornly continued as he'd started, even though he'd been fired from a number of jobs in the past year that were increasingly beneath Severus' infamous dignity. Remus could only assume that Severus' situation must be getting dire for him to take a job with former students he particularly loathed.

But Severus and the Weasley twins could help each other if Severus would get his head out of his arse. Remus thought the research and development arm of WWW the Second could be a good fit for the extremely smart and prickly former spy, if only the man could tap into what would spark the public consciousness. How...perfectly unlikely. It was _Severus Snape_ , for God's sake!

Staring at Fred and George, Remus wondered why the boys hadn't worked with the man themselves and something in his expression must have given his thoughts away, because George suddenly began explaining, "We did _try_ to help him before we came here. We sent him to a Muggle clown school in the States, but he came back after one day, muttering about red noses that didn't fit. Had to send the school a few hundred galleons to pay for the repairs, and we're not even sure what he did-"

"I didn't want to know."

George glared at Fred. "And then we tried working with him directly, but every time we tried to brainstorm ideas, our facilities or our arses suffered."

Remus imagined Severus relishing applying stinging hexes to the twins without the restraint of Hogwarts' professorial ethics.

"We're thinking-" Fred glanced at George for confirmation. "Hoping that it's our age and that he might respond better to you."

"Respond? Ha!" Remus found his own arms crossed and he made a conscious effort to drop them back into his lap, aware of how mere talk of Severus made him defensive. "He hates me, you know," he said in a more subdued tone. "Not sure what I think about him, either."

Fred eyed Remus shrewdly before his features slid into a sly grin. "We could make brewing Wolfsbane just for you part of his job."

Now Remus sat up, hopeful. No one had ever made as good a Wolfsbane for him as Severus.

"Doesn't have to be forever, either," George added, honing in on the chink Fred had made in Remus' armour. "Come and go as you please. We just need him inspired, not supervised."

Blessed Wolfsbane that would give Remus his mind _and_ leave his body less ravaged?

"I'll come in on Monday."

*****

The Muggle warehouse that the twins had bought on the cheap for their Research and Development department appeared between two other run-down warehouses that, Fred informed Remus, they would buy as well if the business grew. For now, the unplottable building appeared, looking much improved from its neighbors, and Fred gave Remus a quick run-down as they walked toward the back corner of the enormous space.

"Uncle Chet works down there on adapting Muggle appliances for our use," Fred waved negligently at a door situated between two workspaces. "Don't be surprised if you see dad around. He sneaks over whenever he can."

Remus thought "sneak" was the key word. Molly still hated Arthur's urge to tinker with all things Muggle.

"Two over is Madam Talley, working on her Window cloth." Remus looked down and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you'll see, terrific stuff if she can figure out how to keep people from sunburning inside their shirts."

Fred was on a roll now, nodding his head this way and that as they moved through the building.

"Summerland is making self-walking shoes that go where you tell them, and Chef Ramsey owns his own time-turner, did you know that? Didn't know how he could fit anything else in, but he makes sauces that will put hair on your chest. And your head, that's why I know they'll sell-" Fred stopped in front of a closed door. "And here's Home Furnishings, although we have Snape concentrating on mattresses for now. They soak up potions better than wood, and if he could just get past the mattresses-"

Fred left off his aimless rambling, staring worriedly at the cheap dry wall that was fairly pulsing with magic. "Those aren't the spells we put up," Fred muttered, opening the door with all the confidence of a man who owned the building. Remus released the breath he held when Fred's arm wasn't charred to a crisp.

"No, they are better," intoned a deep voice from behind a stack of mattresses. "Not only are the walls reinforced and soundproof, but they will dampen explosions and douse specific areas of fire, protecting the rest of the room from water damage."

"We've a fire alarm for the building, Prof- Mr. Snape."

"I have disabled it for this room."

While Fred slapped his forehead and began massaging his temples again, Remus was quietly edging along the side of the room to see past the mattresses. Severus' voice drew him like a magnet; he'd nearly forgotten how Severus' rich baritone seemed to resonate in the space behind Remus' ribs.

"I am not interested in working with you, Lupin," Severus said, arms crossed and turned away as Remus peeked around the stack.

"How did you know it was me?"

Severus' eyes flicked over and met Remus' - a momentary curiosity? - before settling on a point perpendicular to where Remus stood. "I could pick out your pathetic shuffle through a bagman's parade."

"What makes you think I'm going to work here?"

"I am sure you need the pay, and the Weasley clan lives to slobber over its friends."

Fred stepped up beside Remus, bristling, but perhaps used to such snipes. "We've already talked about this, Snape," he said firmly. "And you agreed to it."

"I agreed, but that has nothing to do with my _interest_ in having a shabby werewolf underfoot while I work." Severus spoke to a mattress, defiantly turned away from them.

Pulling Remus aside, Fred pitched his voice for Remus' ears alone. "He does this sometimes. It's better than the hexes, believe me! I think he hates you less than you think; I'd call this a warm reception, coming from _that_ bugger."

Remus rolled his eyes as Severus moved toward a table where it appeared that he had dissected a mattress as one would a body. After taking a long, nervous look at his former professor, Fred turned a worried expression that didn't fit his normally carefree appearance on Remus. "He's here alone too much, that one is. Contact us if you need _anything_ , Remus."

Fred stood up straighter and gave Remus a cheeky grin that didn't entirely reach his eyes. He spoke in a much louder voice now. "Thanks for taking the job. If you could come up with something by the nineteenth, that's when we'll be launching all our new products. Should be easy with two of you now." With a wink and ridiculous thumbs-up, Fred strode out the door and closed it behind him.

"Leave now, don't come back, and I will ensure that the Weasleys think you have perfect attendance." Severus' commands drifted from the opposite end of the room. He appeared to have twice the space of the other developers, maybe because the items he worked with were large, Remus thought.

"I won't have perfect attendance, Severus, and you know it." Remus moved across the room until he stood on the opposite side of the macabre mattress, part of its fluffy innards littering the table. "I assume the twins informed you of the terms of my employment."

Severus' jaw twitched as he continued to apply a potion to bits of cotton. "I informed _them_ that if you lasted more than a month, I would receive a raise commiserate to the extra work Wolfsbane would entail." Now, Severus did look Remus in the eyes with a smug smirk. "They agreed."

If he remembered how to interpret his _Snape_ correctly, Remus could assume that Severus thought the Weasleys' agreement to his terms meant that the twins thought Remus would be let go before the month was out. Severus had no idea how close he was to being sacked.

"Good. Only _you_ are intimate enough with me to brew a proper Wolfsbane. I thank you, Severus."

Severus stilled at Remus' words, staring blankly at the cotton he was working on until potion dripped from the end of his dropper. He blinked and moved again.

Remus hadn't missed Severus' pause, but its meaning wasn't easily interpreted. "So, catch me up. What are you working on here?"

For several long moments, Remus was met with silence while Severus' eyebrows knit in concentration. Whether his consideration was for Remus or the mattress, Remus didn't know, but, at length, Severus sighed and spoke.

"I call it the Nightmare Neutralizer."

"Why would people need a mattress for that? Isn't Dreamless Sleep potion simpler and cheaper?"

"I _said_ this is a nightmare _neutralizer_ , you dunderhead! And if you cannot listen properly, you are a danger here to yourself and me!" The words rumbled out of Severus, his temper rising until he saw Remus watching him with an amused smirk on his face. Frowning, Severus continued, "The potion infused into the mattress stuffing creates a web that senses negative dreams and pulls them from the sleeper's mind by releasing an aromatic that captures the pheromones of anxiety, unhappiness, and fear, replacing them with pheromones of calm and euphoria. You can still dream, which is far healthier for long-term nightmare sufferers than dosing themselves into not dreaming at all."

Remus had to admit, he was impressed. "That will certainly be helpful for those who suffered in the war-"

Severus interrupted, "And children with night-terrors."

"But it's boring."

"What?!"

"It's not going to bring customers into Weasley's Wizard Wares, Severus, and that's what we need to do."

Severus came halfway around the table, looking as if he intended to throttle Remus, but then he changed course and began to pace with a bit of stomp to his steps.

"You sound like those addlepated urchins! There's nothing like the Nightmare Neutralizer on the market. I did the research-"

"Yes, but it took you a full minute of three-syllable words to explain it to me. Everyone's going to think the same thing I did when they hear about it. Your neutralizer's going to take time for a salesman to interest people in it. For that, you need to draw people into your department and make them want to stick around long enough to ask about a- a top-of-the-line item like this one."

Severus had stopped in his tracks, his jaw slack with disbelief as Remus highlighted the finer points of marketing for him. It almost made Severus appear handsome to see his face unlined and unsneering. Remus had several wicked thoughts at once, born of the desire to keep Severus' in his bamboozled state as well as advance their work.

"What you need is _sex_." Remus let his wickedness run free as a flush spread across Severus' cheeks. "You're working on mattresses, right? We need to find a way to make them enhance people's sex lives. Maybe they could be self-lubricating or put anyone in the mood. The sexier, the better. That'll draw them in."

He ended with a leer in Severus' direction for good measure, which seemed to break the spell Severus had been under.

"I am not surprised to hear _you_ suggest we investigate pornography, Lupin." Severus crossed his arms over his chest and rose to his full height, his black lab coat and clothes not entirely hiding Severus' appealingly tall, lean physique. "And how do you propose we go about testing a mattress made for sexual activity?"

Remus stared flatly at Severus until the other man yet again turned red and said he was calling it a day.

*****  
When he woke up later that night, sweaty and tangled in the sheets with a hand on his cock, Remus had to wonder if Severus could just distill his particular brand of sharp, shrewd mystery for their work. The damn man had easily crawled inside Remus' brain after just one afternoon. As his hand flew over his aching hardness, Remus allowed the vestiges of his dream of Severus' thin, red lips wrapped around his girth to enhance his completion.

Spent, but still wide awake, Remus had to wonder at the intensity of his dream. He hadn't woken up coming in years; maybe the sex mattress talk had triggered him? Remus sighed into the perfect dim only 3 a.m. and a new moon could bring. No, Severus had shown him signs of vulnerability the day before -- pauses and flustered moments Severus had only ever displayed in response to him.

Remus had never wanted to delve into the meaning behind his singular effect on Severus, but he couldn't deny that Severus' precarious situation had already brought out his protective instincts. Severus was one of their own, a fact Remus had believed for many years. He'd been nearly sick with relief when Harry proved that Severus had remained loyal throughout the war.

Dumbledore had always urged Remus to take Severus' side, and Remus had thought it was because the old man could sense that Remus would be reasonable where his friends would not be. Had Albus known more about Severus than anyone knew? Remus shook his head, very much doubting that Severus would ever discuss something so base with the headmaster -- with _anyone_ , for that matter.

No, the signals had always been there, whether Severus consciously displayed them or not. Tonight, Remus' subconscious decided to make subtext text, he thought wryly as he banished sweat and sticky come from his body. He'd always been flexible about his bed-mates of out necessity, but Remus knew he couldn't just _shag_ Severus Snape.

With a groan, Remus buried his head under his pillow, deciding that no decision was his best choice for now. He intended on pushing them into inventing a mattress to enhance sex in some way, which meant that they could be talking about sex all week! He'd just have to watch Severus and see if he had any more dreams like tonight's. If the real Severus was half as sexy as dream Severus....

The next morning, Remus knew he'd dreamed more of Severus, but he couldn't remember even the tiniest part of it.

*****  
"A bed that cleans itself after sex."

"No."

"And you don't think slippery all over is a good idea?"

"No."

"Mattress that acts as a sound barrier, no need to remember the spell?"

"I thought we were trying to avoid _boring_ , Lupin.

"What about a mattress that sprouts soft fur when you go to have sex?"

Severus stared flatly at him.

"Fine. One that vibrates?"

"Even the _Muggles_ have one like that."

"One that bucks with your movements."

"Do the Weasleys wish to have seasick customers?"

"Bondage mattress that ties you up with the tap of a wand."

"It's a family store!"

Remus threw up his hands, frustrated. They'd been trying to come up with ideas for an hour now; well, _Remus_ had been trying to come up with ideas.

"What's _your_ big idea, Severus? You haven't offered your own invention." Remus folded his hands over his bent knee to stop it from jumping with agitation as they faced one another. "Or do you just like listening to me talk?"

It was the second time Remus had baited Severus that morning, and, again, Severus paused before bringing his eyes up from Remus' large hands to give him a conceited leer.

"Indeed, I have a brilliant stratagem if you are finished prattling on about your juvenile notions."

Remus sat back in his chair, releasing his tension with a slow, quiet exhale. He gestured magnanimously toward Severus, saying, "Please, do continue."

Standing, Severus pulled something out of his pocket and tapped it with his wand. It expanded to a full-sized easel, where Remus could see that Severus had made several pages of notes.

"Our employers wish to appeal to a less risqué market than their previous amusements shop did -- thus, _families_." Severus' voice dripped with disdain. "What better way to titillate the breeding masses than with a mattress that will evoke their earliest desires for one another?"

"Earliest desires?"

"Lust, Lupin." Severus paused for effect, and Remus felt the words reverberating in his mind; _Lust, Lupin, lust, Lupin, lust._ Was Severus watching him for approval or a reaction? Remus swallowed thickly and nodded his understanding so that Severus would move on.

"I made the presumption that couples wanted each other intensely at some point before they shackled themselves together to raise a passel of snot-nosed brats. This mattress finds those emotions within its users and mirrors it back to them." Severus flipped over a page on his easel and detailed diagrams swam before Remus' eyes. "All on command, of course. A bed merely for sex would be impossible for those living on a budget."

Remus let Severus explain how his aromatic potion would seek out pleasure centers and find the first memories of a couple's time together, linking and transforming both to create the _state_ of remembered lust if the mattress users had romantic feelings for one another.

"It would be like being on their honeymoon again," Remus surmised.

Severus' eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Yes, I suppose the feelings would have been present on most nuptial nights."

Remus sat up, excited. "People could feel like their honeymoon never ended. The Endless Honeymoon bed!" Remus stood and used one arm to pull Severus into his side, using his free hand to clap him on the shoulder. "That will bring them in! What a great idea, Severus!"

Before Remus knew what had happened, Severus spun out of his grip, knocking over his easel in the process. He scrambled after the falling apparatus, and the clatter Severus and the easel made was enough to jerk Remus out of his animated state.

"I-"

"Endless Honeymoon Bed," Severus said, slightly out of breath as he straightened up and set the easel to rights. "A plebeian title, which the twins will, no doubt, appreciate."

Remus saw the flush running across Severus' cheeks as the man tried to look anywhere but at him. "We need to get started-"

"Your contribution will be noted, however, the process of uniting memory to physical response will be tricky." Severus tapped his easel, shrinking it so he could scoop it up into his pocket. "I must be allowed to work uninterrupted. You-" He waved his hand in the air negligently, dismissing Remus without having looked him in the eye since he'd been touched. "Do something else."

With that, Severus retreated to the corner of the workroom where he brewed his potions, casting a strong barrier of protection and silence between them.

Remus dreamed of making that blush spread across Severus' cheeks in a variety of situations for the rest of the week.

*****  
 _Experience your first night together as if it were_ every _night with the Endless Honeymoon Bed!_

Remus tapped his quill against the parchment. It wasn't a _bad_ slogan. A little wordy, but maybe-

_Make it your first night_ every _night with the Endless Honeymoon Bed!_

He nodded to himself, liking the brevity. Before Remus could lean over to make more changes, Severus levitated a mattress to sit on a higher work table in front of Remus.

"It is ready. Summon your test subjects."

Remus stared at Severus' haughty, presumptuous expression and felt a twist of anxiety in his gut. "Don't the twins have people for this?"

As expected, Severus exploded into ranting. "Of course not, you imbecile! Each inventor procures his own test subjects through the research secretary per product specs." Severus threw his arm out in the direction of their main workroom door. "Why do you think she poked her nose in here three times this week, asking if we needed anything?"

"You _heard_ her?" Remus tried to remember what he'd muttered as he'd worked over the past week while he thought Severus safely behind his wall of silence.

"I'd be a fool to seal myself off from all outside noises. What if someone attacked?" Remus privately thought that room full of mattresses was a low-priority target for anyone, although his next immediate thought was that Severus _could_ attract a vengeful wizard or witch. "Have you completely fallen into your cozy complacency now that the _hard work_ of defeating a- a dark wizard is over?!"

"No." Remus growled, both embarrassed and insulted at the same time, and it brought Severus up short.

"What _have_ you been doing all week, then," he asked, eyes drifting over Remus' desk covered in broken quills, ink, and parchments full of drawings and scribbled hand-writing.

"Coming up with a marketing plan! Logos-" Remus held up a parchment with the words "Endless Honeymoon Bed" where the "o"s were replaced with hearts and the "e" in "Bed" turned on its side with a bed drawn resting on it. "Slogans, sample ads, you name it. I know the Twins have a marketing department, but I thought I'd at least give them ideas of what _not_ to do," he said with a self-depreciating, wry smile.

Severus took uncharacteristic pity on him and heaved a great sigh. "We still have a week. If we inform the secretary today-"

"Why don't we test it ourselves, first?" Remus felt encouraged by Severus cutting short his harangue, but he immediately regretted the suggestion when Severus took a step back and crossed his arms over his chest.

"We are not lovers," Severus said, voice deep with solemness and, Remus wanted to imagine, a touch of regret.

"No, we're not, but-" Remus wanted to move past what they _weren't_ quickly. "We could be the base subjects. The ones without- um, feelings."

Still eyeing Remus suspiciously, Severus said, "I suppose we could."

"Good!" Remus clapped his hands as he stood and pulled his wand, shortening the work table that the mattress rested upon until it was a comfortable height for use. "You may go first, Oh Great Inventor!"

With a sneer, Severus tapped the mattress with his wand to activate it, then he sat and turned neatly to lay straight as a board in one fluid movement. Although his long hair fanned out nicely around his head, Remus wished Severus wouldn't press his lips together so tightly that they turned white.

"Anything?"

"No."

"My turn!"

Severus rose and Remus climbed onto the mattress, headed for the middle with his brown-trousered arse in the air just to twit the other man. He laid back with his arms and legs spread wide, taking up as much space as he could.

"Not bad. In fact-" Remus wiggled and bounced for a moment, testing the springs. "It'd be a perfectly comfortable mattress without the added enhancement."

Severus rolled his eyes. "Any _other_ reactions, Lupin?"

"Nope." Remus moved to the far side of the surface and patted the space he left. "Now both of us."

He had meant to give Severus a teasing leer, but when Remus spotted Severus' locked jaw and eyes widened with suppressed panic, he relented and smiled gently instead. "Contrary to popular opinion, I really _don't_ bite."

Severus snorted, but met Remus' eyes with a challenging look of his own. Gazes locked, Severus climbed onto the mattress and only tore his eyes from Remus' when he laid back. Immediately, they were assaulted with a variety of sensations.

Severus' desire was decades old and tinged with fear and hope and longing that made Remus ache in his heart and cock at the same time. The lust Remus brought to the spelled mattress was bright and sharp in its newness, and it burned past both their doubts to create a feeling that was both adoring and desperate.

Remus sat up and leaned over Severus, cherishing the moment with a hand on his stubbled cheek before covering his mouth with moist, clinging lips. Severus responded with a quickly inhaled breath that caught in his throat before wrapping his arms around Remus to drag his weight down onto him. The contact was electric, sending ripples of sensation throughout their bodies, so much so that they pulled away from one another to gasp and groan.

The briefest moment of clarity was all Remus needed to come to his senses. Horrified at himself and in fear for his life, Remus jumped off the mattress and Apparated instinctively.

He was almost disappointed when he appeared in his flat, unsplinched.

*****  
Two days full of self-loathing later, Remus was surprised to hear a knock at his door.

"If I am to be forced to make this diabolical concoction for you _and_ do the work of two men, I am entitled to ensure that you drink every last drop," Severus said as he whipped past Remus, who'd stood frozen without inviting him in.

Eventually, Remus closed the door and turned to face Severus. "I- I haven't been in in two days-"

"Of which the twins are unaware."

Severus was in his flat, flask of Wolfsbane in-hand and Remus still had all his body parts attached to him. A warm smile broke on his face, the muscles slow to move from disuse.

"You don't hate me," he admitted, more to himself than Severus.

"That much would appear obvious after our...test," Severus said with unusual calm, although his voice dropped even lower when he spoke again. "You don't hate _me_?"

Remus took one of Severus' hands, holding it lightly in case it would be pulled away, and led them into his parlour to sit turned toward one another on his sofa. Only then did Remus reluctantly release his hand.

"I've always- _appreciated_ you, Severus. Believed in you." Remus caught Severus' eyes with his own and tried to keep his mind open so that Severus could see for himself the truth of what Remus was about to say. "But I'm starting to feel more."

Severus didn't appear to take advantage of Remus' state, instead choosing to ask, "Then why did you disappear after- after what happened?"

An open-mouth grin quirked one side of Remus' face. "Did _you_ want our first time together to be caused by a magical bed? I thought you'd hex me into Sunday for taking advantage of the situation."

" _First_ time," Severus noted, musing to himself as he gave an unconscious nod of his approval.

Remus took advantage of Severus' distraction by closing the gap between them and slipping his arm into the hair at the back of Severus' head. " _First_ time," he agreed. "This time, though, might be awkward."

"You already know- mmmf!"

Letting Severus think longer would only increase their nervousness. Remus chose, instead, to kiss Severus and use his tongue to lap at Severus' lips so that he could have a proper taste of the man. When he'd thoroughly explored Severus' mouth, including finding a soft place above his teeth that made Severus quiver involuntarily, he began to pull back to suggest they move to his bedroom.

Severus would have none of it, surprising Remus by banishing their clothes and pushing him down on the cushions. He smirked down at Remus, displaying a confidence he'd not shown before. Apparently, a little reassurance went a long way with Severus.

"You're not running again, Lupin!"

Remus bit back a retort as Severus bent his long torso to bury his nose in the curly hair surrounding Remus' cock. He breathed deeply and hummed with approval before using the tip of his nose to nudge along Remus' hardening length. Severus earned his own quiver from Remus with bare brushes against his skin, and Remus found himself holding his breath when Severus paused to watch his foreskin receding to reveal his damp tip.

"Severus-"

"Your length is formidable," Severus observed with a flash of teeth that Remus took for a grin before wrapping is lips sideways against Remus' cock, licking and sucking to wet the skin before sliding down on the tip, his lips bright red from the effort.

It was, indeed, awkward at first. Remus wanted to alternately burst into flames and touch Severus everywhere at once, and Severus moved haphazardly, as if he wished to do the same. But Remus could think of nowhere else he'd rather be trapped than under Severus' tongue as it swirled about his head and applied pressure to the underside of his cock the further down Severus went.

Remus' impressions were of white skin over firm shoulder muscles with several moles scattered about; the soft pull of crinkled leg hair against his own; soft, wet noises of pleasure coming from both of them; and an unbearable pressure both in his cock and chest, threatening to overwhelm him body and soul.

As his hips rocked and shifted as much as Severus' firm hands would let him, straining to both hold back and find release, Remus felt the same overwhelming passion he'd felt with Severus on the enchanted mattress vibrate once more from his torso to spread out until even the tips of his fingers and toes tingled and itched to wallow in _more more more_ of Severus. Did Severus feel the same?

Before Remus could wonder further, Severus had worked out Remus' rhythm and shifted from exploration to taking, sucking on Remus' cock and applying pressure behind his bollocks until Remus could hold back no longer. Throwing his free arm over his eyes in a habitual effort to hide his face, Remus made a strangled noise and gave up more than come as Severus swallowed around his head while circling his thumb near Remus' sweaty, sensitive crevice.

Why hadn't Remus expected Severus to be a passionate lover? It was that very passion -- reserved only for Remus while all others were only presented with the cool, calculating Slytherin -- that touched Remus and made him want to return it tenfold.

Remus trembled, utterly spent, but seeing the same shaking in Severus' arms as he held himself carefully away from Remus' torso. He circled weak fingers lightly around one of Severus' forearms.

"A minute. That's all I'll need, and-"

Severus crawled forward until his knees were practically in Remus armpits. He sat back on the heels of his feet to spare Remus his weight, and then covered Remus' hand on his arm with his own free hand. Remus had a second of panic as Severus pulled Remus' fingers away only to guide them to curl around his twitching cock.

"Just touch me, Remus," Severus whispered hoarsely. It was all the incentive Remus needed to summon the strength to grip Severus firmly.

However, Severus hadn't exaggerated his arousal. Leaning back to hold Remus' thighs for support, Severus' body was on full display. Sweat ran down his brow and the middle of his lightly furred chest, and his muscles fairly vibrated with tension. Yes, the nose was big and the hair limp with dampness, but Severus' form, taken as a whole, made Remus mentally drool. If he hadn't already been spent, Severus' arse would have been in the air by now.

Severus watched Remus through hooded eyes, the side of his mouth pulling up into a pleased smirk even has he shifted his hips forward to remind Remus to move. It didn't take but a few tugs, Remus' thumb caressing Severus' wet tip, before Severus groaned and pulsed thick come into Remus' hand. Tightening his grip, Remus spread Severus' wetness along his rippling length, extending his pleasure until his hips dropped away and Severus sat up, chest heaving for air.

"Who needs mattresses," he managed to ask right before Remus sat up with lightning reflexes and grabbed Severus' shoulders, laying them both down and gathering the other man in his arms. Severus squirmed, but eventually settled into Remus' close embrace.

*****  
"Are you laying on it?"

"Yes. Now what?"

"Just wait."

Remus was at the end of a very long day spent at a wizarding retail convention where the Endless Honeymoon Bed had been honoured as the Product of the Year. Severus had claimed to be deep into a new creation, so Remus was alone in a hotel room, laying on a new mattress that Severus had had shipped to the hotel for him.

If product testing with Severus didn't always prove to be so rewarding, Remus would have rolled over and passed out from exhaustion. Instead, he waited for Severus' instructions to come through the room's private Floo connection.

"Now, tap the bed with your wand and say, 'Weasley's Worthless Wares'."

"Ha Ha. You're as bad as they are some-"

"Get on with it, Lupin!" Severus' irritability came through loud and clear, even without his face in the fire. Remus followed the instructions.

"Well?"

"Let me concentrate."

"Concentrate on wha- oh. Oh! God! Severus, what-" Remus felt fingers plucking at his nipples and lips sucking at a sensitive spot just behind his ear, but when he patted his hands down his body, no one was there. "How-"

He felt the sensation of two hands gripping his cock, which was hardening in his trousers, and then startled as yet another hand dipped a seeking finger to rub against his cleft. "Is someone else there?"

The panic must have been plain in Remus' voice because all the ghost hands lifted away, leaving Remus dazed and aroused. Severus' voice drifted through the Floo again.

"The mattress is attuned to couples. When one is laying on it, he or she can feel whatever the other person imagines - as long as the thoughts are positive," Severus emphasized. "Wouldn't want spouses throttling each other."

"And you sent it here, why?" Remus panted.

"A field test, of course. The mattress is meant to withstand regular shrinking and expanding for couples who often find themselves at a distance."

"Three hands?"

"The mattress transmits _thought_ , Remus. Imagination _is_ limitless."

Remus rose and tapped the bed to disengage the enchantment before beginning to undress.

"Come through the Floo."

"I was not dissembling about the amount of work I have to accomplish," Remus heard after a long, considering pause.

"You come here or I'm going to go through the Floo Network naked. Either way, you're getting-" Severus stepped out of the Floo and banished both soot and robes at the same time, "-shagged."

"Who am I to turn down a good shag?"

It had been a good year for them, professionally and personally. As they fell on the bed, devouring each other like randy teenagers, Remus knew he'd never need a mattress to remember the feelings that continued to grow between them the longer they spent together.

End.


End file.
